Lion’s Gate, Fox Play Confidence Game

Lion’s Gate Television is developing a one-hour drama for Fox, titled Confidence, after the feature film starring Ed Burns, Rachel Weisz, Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia. The show’s entire season would follow a group of con artists as they plan one big heist. Lion’s Gate is trying to expand its overall network and cable television production presence after scoring with The Dead Zone on USA Network and 1-800-Missing on Lifetime.

Other projects in production include five-hour miniseries Five Days To Midnight for Sci Fi Channel, about a man who finds a briefcase containing a file detailing his own murder five days hence. Each hour of the miniseries details an entire day leading up to the day the man is supposed to die. Five Days is scheduled to start production on Dec. 1, and air in the second quarter of next year.

Lion’s Gate also is working on an untitled project for ABC Family, executive produced by Britney Spears, her mother and her agent, based loosely on Spears’ life and rise to fame. The two-hour project is scheduled to begin shooting in late December for an April 2004 airdate. Other projects in the works include series pilots at The WB, UPN and Lifetime and a six-hour miniseries for FX.